Sunday Must Reading

I've come across a few articles posted on different websites over the past couple of days that should be must reading for those that support the rights of union members, both public and private, to engage in collective barganing.

They deal with what is going on in Wisconsin and public opinion on what's happing, not only in Wisconsin , but also across the country. These posts can be found on Forbes.com's Policy Page blog by Rick Ungar, ThinkProgress.org and from the Washington Post's Plume Line blog by Greg Sargent.

Rick Ungar's post over at Forbes is titled "The Wisconsin Lie Exposed - Tax Payers Actually Contribute Nothing to Public Employees Pensions" informs us that public employees in Wisconsin fully fund their own pension system... the state adds no tax payer money to the fund contrary to what people have been hearing.

"Gov. Scott Walker says he wants state workers covered by collective bargaining
agreements to “contribute more” to their pension and health insurance plans.
Accepting Gov. Walker’ s assertions as fact, and failing to check, creates the
impression that somehow the workers are getting something extra, a gift from
taxpayers. They are not. Out of every dollar that funds Wisconsin’ s pension and
health insurance plans for state workers, 100 cents comes from the state
workers. "

Over at ThinkProgress they post, "Top 10 Disastrous Policies From The Wisconsin GOP You Haven’t Heard About" where they talk about how:

"...Walker’s assault on public employees is only one part of a larger political program that aims to give corporations free reign in the state while dismantling the healthcare programs, environmental regulations, and good government laws that protect Wisconsin’s middle and working class. These lesser known proposals in the 144-page bill reveal how radical Walker’s plan actually is..."

And Finally Greg Sargent's Plume Line post over at the Washington Post, "Public employees not such an easy scapegoat after all" informs us that according to recent Gallup Poll "...Public employees are turning out to be far harder to scapegoat in the public mind than many predicted..."

* Among those who make less than $24,000 annually, 74 percent oppose the proposal, versus only 14 percent who favor it.

* Among those who make $24,000 to $59,000, 63 percent oppose the proposal, versus only 33 percent who favor it.

* Among those who make $60,000 to $89,000, 53 percent oppose the proposal, versus only 41 percent who favor it.

* Among those who make $90,000 and up, 50 percent favor the proposal, versus 47 percent who oppose it.

Sargent concludes:

"...For all the attention being lavished on the likes of Chris Christie and his supposedly successful formula of targeting public employees as the new "welfare queens," the bigger and more interesting story is that they aren't turning out to be such easy targets, after all."

Take a look at these articles and see what you think, I really believe they are must reads. If the radical right-wing and the GOP are successful in stripping public workers of their rights, it wont be long before they attack private sector worker looking to eliminate overtime, health, pension and other long standing rules.